EXECUTIVE EDITOR ROGER HART: This 2012 Dodge Charger SRT8 Super Bee was a terrific ride to take to the NHRA Winternationals in California. The drag-racing crowd seemed to be very tuned into the Super Bee. Even in car-centric Southern California, the Super Bee turned heads. I'd like to think it was because of the 392 Hemi under the hood--and it probably was, to an extent--but most of the people who commented on the car loved the Stinger Yellow clear-coat paint that made our Bee stand out in the crowd.

When your car gets the attention of the valet-parking attendant, then you know the car has some curb appeal. Again, the screaming-yellow paint certainly is an attention-getter.

But underneath the gallons of yellow paint it must have taken to cover this Charger lies a fun-to-drive, comfortable, full-size American sedan. Yes, it's got a Hemi, and its baritone exhaust note becomes evident at even the slightest opening of the throttle. Get up to cruising speed, and it quiets down to a low murmur.

On the inside, the Super Bee package gives you two-stripe cloth seats and the very nice, flat-bottomed, leather-wrapped SRT steering wheel that feels terrific in your hands. You also get a rather cheesy, but also kinda cool at the same time, Super Bee that dances across the dash info screen at startup.

On the downside, you get hit with a $1,000 gas-guzzler tax and an EPA combined 17 mpg. But as the old bluesmen used to say, "if you want to dance, you gotta pay the band." And the Charger SRT8 in Super Bee trim is a fun dance partner.